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DAMSClose Calls at Michigan’s Dams Are a Climate Warning to America
Record flooding pushed Michigan’s dams to the brink of disaster. The near miss reflects the national problem of infrastructure that is not suited to the challenges of a warming world.
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ENERGY SECURITYTwo Months in, the Iran War Has Changed the Global Energy System Forever
The conflict may be the beginning of the end of fossil fuel dominance. Here’s which energy sources stand to win and lose.
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WATER SECURITYTexas Needs at Least $174 Billion to Avoid Water Crisis, State Says
Texas communities will need to spend $174 billion in the next 50 years to avert a severe water crisis. That new amount is more than double the amount predicted four years ago. The new forecast comes as supply is already drying up.
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CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTUREHow Will Tropical Cyclones Impact Coastal Critical Infrastructure — Including Nuclear Reactors — in the Future?
As populations grow and more infrastructure is built in coastal areas, understanding these risks is essential. The Bay of Bengal’s low-lying coastal area and dense population make the region in Southeast Asia highly vulnerable to flooding.
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INFRASTRUCTUREThe Skylines of the Future Will Be Made of Wood
Laminated timber is more environmentally friendly than steel, and perfectly safe for constructing tall buildings.
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NUCLEAR ENERGYDOME, World’s First Nuclear Reactor Test Bed, Ready for Privately Developed Advanced Reactors
The Idaho National Laboratory’s Demonstration of Microreactor Experiments (DOME) is a first-of-its-kind microreactor test bed that will enable rapid development, testing and demonstration of privately developed advanced nuclear reactors.
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DOOMSDAYWhat to Expect When You’re Expecting the End of the World
Jem Bendell predicted that society would collapse because of climate change. Then he tried to get on with his life.
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GRID RESILIENCEAs Electricity Demand Grows and Risks Increase, Experts Examine How the Grid Can Keep Up
Electricity demand in the United States is increasing while the infrastructure needed to serve that demand is taking longer to build. That gap is becoming a central challenge for utilities, system operators, and policymakers.
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ENERGY SECURITYThere’s Hope for the Offshore Wind Industry — Yes, Really
Trump and Interior Department chief Doug Burgum have spent months in an all-out assault against the wind energy. They have frozen all new leases, repealed clean energy tax credits, and even paid off an oil company to not build a planned wind project. In December, Burgum paused work on five under-construction wind farms on “national security” grounds. But the administration’s no-holds-barred attack on wind energy has taken a beating in the courts, giving the beleaguered industry a chance to get back on stable footing.
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IRAN WARWhy Iran Targeted Amazon Data Centers and What That Does – and Doesn’t – Change About Warfare
It seems likely that as the use of AI tools and other cloud-based resources continues to grow in importance for countries around the world, commercial data centers will be targets in future conflicts.
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ENERGY SECURITYTrump’s $1B Payoff to Stop Offshore Wind Is Even Stranger Than It Sounds
Last week, President Trump’s Department of the Interior announced that it will refund almost $1 billion to a French multinational oil company. The government is paying TotalEnergies to halt a wind farm it isn’t building, in exchange for fossil fuel investments it’s already making.
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NUCLEAR WASTEUtah Republicans See Storing Nuclear Waste as a “Once in a Lifetime Opportunity”
Some think a Trump administration plan is a chance to boost communities that hemorrhaged jobs after coal plants closed. The state is exploring whether to become a solution — by storing nuclear waste in the massive salt deposit in Millard County, a rural part of the state with a long history of meeting the West’s energy needs.
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NUCLEAR SAFETYDOGE Goes Nuclear: How Trump Invited Silicon Valley Into America’s Nuclear Power Regulator
The Trump administration has been particularly aggressive in its attacks on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the bipartisan independent regulator that approves commercial nuclear power plants and monitors their safety. The agency is not a household name. But it’s considered the international gold standard, often influencing safety rules around the world.
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WATER SECURITYWhy Colorado River Negotiations Stalled, and How They Could Resume with the Possibility of Agreement
The seven U.S. states that make up the Colorado River basin are struggling to agree on how best to manage the river’s water as its supply dwindles due to climate change and a period of prolonged drought.
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CYBER-STRATEGYTrump’s Cyber Strategy Falls Short on China, Iran, and the Threats That Matter Most
Iranian cyber retaliation is escalating. Chinese operators remain embedded in U.S. infrastructure. Ransomware groups continue to disrupt hospitals, schools, and local governments. Trump’s recently released cyber strategy raises doubts the administration is prepared to address these threats.
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The long view
FOOD SECURITYA Turning Point: U.S. Recognizes Agriculture as a Domain of Defense
The US has legitimized the role of food supply in national defense. It has recognized that in a world of rupture, a nation that cannot feed itself cannot defend itself. A new policy effectively ends the era of agriculture functioning solely as a commercial sector.
GEOENGINEERINGThe U.S. Barely Bothers to Track Geoengineering. What Could Go Wrong?
Whether it’s cloud seeding or covering the Arctic in tiny glass beads, there’s little standing in the way of weather modification.